Sep 23

Sep 23 Boston

Hi. Christey here. I know, I don't usually do the writing in here, but this time I am. Mainly because I went to Boston with my mom and daughter and Peter stayed home with our son. So he wasn't there to narrate the trip (of course he certainly is going to edit this to normal human English from my jibber-jabber)

So Boston has recently hit my top two list of all time American cities, next to St. Petersburg. It barely nudged out San Fran. I had a chance to go visit my grandfather up in Cape Cod with my mom and jumped at it with promise that I would get to show her a bit of Boston as well.

Cynthia works with my mother here in Florida. Cynthia has a niece who owns a cafe in the North End of Boston and told us we should really check it out. Which was the very first thing we did getting off the plane. North End is one of my favorite areas in Boston, so I was excited to show it to my mom.

Where we went is called Volle Nolle, and for the life of me, I forgot what that meant. But! It could easily have meant quaint adorable most perfect sandwich cafe ever, with a touch of Ella Fitzgerald in the background to make me want to have lunch there every. single. day. Check it out: 351 Hanover Street.

I am all about food, but if food doesn't have the atmosphere, than, I am not so impressed. This is just the most perfect spot. So comfortable, unique, with a touch of modern that makes me jealous that I am not a shop owner in the city. Really jealous.

The food was fabulous! we had a special she was running for the day, a smoked turkey sandwich, which had bacon(!), green leaf lettuce, tomato (hold mine), basil, and basil mayonnaise on a french roll. It was gigantic and yummy. Sadly, it looked so good, I forgot to shoot it till I was almost done. Even Meta loved it!

After we ate, we had the most wonderful cookies. Chocolate chip, thin and crunchy...cookies that have a nice secret to them that I am not sure I have the right to publish, so I am just going to say, you need to go try them. Amazing.

And then I felt like being 'arty' :

Various tidbits:

This made me very sad. Apparently a bird went after someone's bait and got the hook stuck in him. that or someone didn't dispose of their fishing line properly. Be a responsible fisherperson, please.

When it gets cold (it was in the 50's), I crave ice cream. What do you want? I am a Floridian. We found an open ice cream shop (finally) in Osterville on the Cape

Meta waiting patiently:

Still waiting as mommy does her pictures (that's her lil face in the background). This is homemade cookies and cream at a small shop that I can't for the life of me remember the name:

Finally!

The next morning we went to Sandwich to have breakfast before visiting my grandfather. We stopped at 6A Cafe. Why is it the best breakfast places are these tiny places that barely fit 15 tables and has a waiting line outside for over 45 minutes long? We didn't have to wait that, but as we were leaving, the line was that long. Totally worth it too.

I had the chocolate chip pancakes, because, I love chocolate. a lot. I think more than bacon(!) and garlic, but not quite sure about it. Big surprise.

Meta being silly with me and her fruit plate (she likes my pancakes better. I was trying to feed her well, really!):

There is a really cool boardwalk in Sandwich, that goes out to the beach. Residents each got a plank in it and had what they wanted inscribed on the plank. It's a very neat and peaceful place. This is mom, me and Meta at the end on the beach:

and Meta on the actual boardwalk:

I don't know what this was, but it was on the sidewalk and actually looked good (I do know those are gourds in the background) and I don't like cabbage and green things, (okay, most green things)

We went up to the very tip of Cape Cod because I really wanted to see Provincetown, the birthplace of Anthony Bourdain (har har -- at least his culinary life). My 80-something grandfather calls Ptown, Fairytown. With good, yet non-PC, reason. Either way, it was beautiful and wonderful and everyone was so nice! I came down with a horrible stomach virus, so eating was very little and I was completely unsure. We stopped at the Post Office Cafe and Caberet (nightly shows of Jimmy James, infamous drag-queen extraordinaire). I wanted a lobster roll so bad, but my tummy said no way. So Mom got a lobster and crab cake for me to nibble on and I got potato skins.

The skins would of normally been really good, they were deep and FULL of cheese and bacon(!), but just too greasy for my tummy. The cakes were awesome, but I was afraid to eat too much (come to find out about 6 hours later, mom got sick from her stomach bug mixed with these cakes. Unfun).

Some various Ptown shots, mainly cause it is just so beautiful there:

And skate fisherman just dropped off on the pier while we were there:

We made our way back to Boston after P-Town. From Beacon Hill:

We stayed in the Hyatt Harborside hotel straight across Boston Harbor from Boston. The view was amazing and they have a restaurant that is inside/outside. When we got in for the night, Mom went up to the room while Meta and I had dessert outside. Sadly, the second my plate came, it started to pour down rain, so the shot was done inside instead of outside. Even though it was night, outside had more light than the restaurant did, so I am quite unhappy with the final shot. ANYHOW, I had a great turtle cheesecake. The bottom was cookie crumb, then a layer of chocolate, cheesecake, pecans with caramel drizzled on top.

Boston: